Finishing this game took me 34 hours. Was that good time? Definitely yes, I spent a great time with that. But that doesn't mean that every player will like it as I do. First of all, you must be real RPG fan, and what is most important, you must be old-school gamer. Because this game is true old-school RPG with very poor animations and weak graphics (as for today). But if you're ok with that, you will like it. It has good story, turn based combat and high difficulty level.

VERDICT:If you're old-school RPG fan, this is what you need.If you're modern RPG fan but you want to try something classic, this is good choice.If you're not a fan either of RPG and old-school, you shouldn't even read this, that might harm you.

In a nutshell, Eschalon is a standard 2D single-character fantasy western RPG. ("western RPG" here means "opposite of JRPG")

Eschalon is solid. It's not exemplary, it's not bad. It's the kind of game that would metascore in the 70-75 bracket, filled with games that are worth your time if you're a fan of the genre.

The story is cliche; save the world by finding the macguffins and slaying the big bad. That doesn't necessarily make it bad. It's not memorable, but it works.

For the most part, combat in Eschalon is a game of numbers and dice. I played a magick user, and for the first half of the game, all I had was a basic single-target spell. The outcome of a battle essentially boiled down to how many times I could cast it with what mana I had, how many turns it took the enemy to close to attack range (which is melee for most enemies), and how many hits both of us could survive. Later on, I got a few area-effect spells, which added a small layer of strategy, though numbers and dice were still the dominant factor.

The first half of the game was extremely tedious as a magick user. Mana regen is very slow to start, though you can build for quick regen after a few level ups if you eschew everything else. There is a rest function that causes time to pass more quickly, but it can still take as long as a minute to fill back up. Health regen works the same way, and I have to imagine it's just as tedious for melee-centered characters.

Basically, playing Eschalon Book 1 felt like playing a much, MUCH smaller Elder Scrolls game. That's just me though; your mileage may (and probably will) vary.

THE VERDICT: Eschalon is a solid RPG that will entertain an RPG fan for about 20 hours. It's not the best game out there, but it's not the worst either.

NOTE: Ignore my steam hours, I've played this game through several times.

Great tactical turn based RPG, although there is far too much spam of camping to get hit points back. Great starter game for those just getting into to PC gaming, and don't quite want to do twitch finger combat.

i like this game :3 why? well because it allows for maximum save scumming of course :P save right before opening a chest or something and if you don't like what you find in there, just load and see whats inside this time :D

it also boasts a great world full of detail and is easy to run :3 i mean i could download this onto my old laptop and have it run just fine :3

Eschalon series is a turn-based role-playing game series with astounding graphics and sound. Unfortunately gameplay is a bit slow, even for an ultima-like game. Doing almost anything in this game is fun but one thing: Walking. And there's a lot of walking. Walking through forests, walking through beaches, walking through deserts... and even more walking. The game has interesting dungeons and towns, filled with many secrets and details, unfortunately other locations are there just to be walked through. That is why I would rate this game as decent: It's a very enjoyable RPG, except for tedious walking through wilderness.

“Aha! A back entrance to the infamous dark tower! And better yet, the door appears to be slightly ajar as if it were not properly closed the last time someone used it. It seems this is my lucky day. Riches here I come!”

Eschalon: Book 1 represents a classic RPG experience with a turn-based combat system and great love for detail. In addition it provides a decent character development system and well-done soundtrack for the depicted locations.

The only shortcoming of this game is the relatively slow-paced gameplay.

Fun fact: The developers of the Eschalon series kept this project a secret for a long time, believing most game developers release too much information about their products, spoiling the game when you eventually play it.--

My rating system consists of six categories in descending order of importance:

If the S-Rank is awarded, a quote from the game or personal comment will be added as a token of my respect (in brackets).--

Atmosphere: A-Rank

Characters: A-Rank

Details: S-Rank

(As you fall to the ground, you suddenly feel your very essence ripped from the shell of your body. In an instance you find yourself standing on the precipice of eternity, an incoherent wailing emanating from the abyss below. You smile as you tumble forward into the black chasm.)

Tactical gameplay: B-Rank

Story: B-Rank

Combat & Controls: B-Rank --

While there are no achievements to conquer, a very useful guide can be found on the link below.

I will never know what lies in the goblin citadel because THERE ARE TOO MANY DAMN MINOTAURS. This game is very hard, i only reccomend if youre ace pro at these sorts of RPGs and have little to zero anger issues.

Its not a bad game. Somewhat older graphics and style of gameplay. It seemed very simplified game at first but later it becomes harder as you start to travel further from the begining. I realized later after constantly dying often that this wasnt so simple of a game. Some creatures are extremely hard to kill, and the trick of running to edge of the map to heal on the other side of the next map, is what I mostly did to try and survive. (that and to save often) Its a worthy game in my opinion and I enjoyed very much. Just waiting for the next version to come out on steam.

Playing this trilogy for the second time through. While not graphically superior to any RPG of late, this game franchise has one of the most involved story lines you could ever ask for. Seriously deep character development are coupled with a world that you will completely get lost in. The story will take you through a lifetime of betrayal, friendships and evil that will leave you speechless. Any fan of RPG's will be right at home here with a D&D style interface, Ultima style spell books and some of the most memorable adventures I have personally ever been a part of. Every second of this game drips with pure love from the developer whom I can only assume is an even bigger nerd than I am :)

Eschalon is being marketed as an old-school role-playing game inspired by the classics. This is an adequate description of the game, but unfortunately the game does not succeed in adequately copying all the good qualities of the classics that it is inspired by.

The game does have it's strengths for sure. Character creation is very detailed and let's you create the character you want to play by choosing such things as race, class, skills, the region where the character grew up and the character's religion (or lack thereof) and all of these choices make a difference.

Another strength is in how the turn-based system works. When you move or perform any action time flows. When you don't time stands still. This means that the game can have as high or low a pace as you want it to have at any given moment and that it moves seamlessly from a high to a low pace and vice versa. There is no waiting, e.g. for enemies to complete their turn, and you can also take as much time as you need to think before acting.

The game has a reasonable amount of optional side-quests, different items to find and different regions to explore. The graphics are nothing special, but entirely adequate. The music is quite good. So far, it all sounds pretty good.

Where does the game fail, then? Unfortunately it fails at the most important thing for this kind of game. Combat! What is wrong with it? It doesn't require any skill. You control a single character with a rather limited repertoire of combat actions, mainly slashing/bashing, shooting, or burning the enemies, The same is true for the enemies. This would be okay in a Diablo-like action RPG where the fun and the challenge comes from the high pace. But for a turn-based RPG this is not adequate, combats should require some strategic thinking and since here they don't fighting enemies becomes a dull routine matter. Since much of the game, like with most RPG's, consists of fighting this is clearly no good.

All in all, Eschalon is an old-school turn-based RPG with a couple of good qualities which is unfortunately dragged down by dull combat. I wouldn't really want to call it a bad game, but there are plenty of better games in the genre (although Eschalon beats many of these games in some respects, only not where it really matters) that I would recommend over this one.

PROS:✭Old-school isometric GUI✭Utilizes an effective variant of turn-based strategy✭12-15 hour playthrough feels signifcant, but not overwhelming✭Great character customization and strategies

CONS:✭Steep learning curve✭More linear than you might expect from an open world game✭Small gameworld compared to others of the genre✭Slow walking animation✭Superflous gold/items beyond 10 hours of gameplay✭Surprisingly uninteresting story

FINAL DECISION: You will get you money's worth even at the full price of $6 if you are into classic, isometric RPG games like Ultima. Buy it!

(Before I get going, I'll say that Book 2 is much improved and although I'm only a few hours in, I can probably recommend Book 2. Writing is more polished, graphics feel fresher, and controls feel more responsive. Book 1 isn't necessary to play or understand the story of Book 2.)

Slow paced and feels more like a shallow copy of old school CRPGs (hey, that *looks old-fashioned*, or, nobody does *that* in RPGs anymore, let's put that into Eschalon) rather than capturing the deep magic that made old school CRPGs worth reviving (as in "why did they do that, and does it still make sense? If so, let's put it in and modernize it just a bit"). Don't get me wrong, I like turn-based (Western) CRPGs, love Spiderweb Games (Exile through Avadon even), and I even fire up one of the top roguelikes now and then (Nethack, ADOM, dwarf fortress, Cataclysm DDA, etc.), and Eschalon Book 1 falls flat by comparison. I've played Ultima 4-8, Wasteland, Fallout 1-2, Baldur's Gate, Arcanum, and I've probably played other awesome turn-based overhead CRPGs that I can't remember. I'm sure I've played some clunkers too, but I felt I had to put up this negative review if only b/c I cannot figure out why so many people seem to like this game enough to recommend others play it--the hype for this game, from "pro" reviews and players, makes me wonder how many of those even played a quarter of the games I listed up top.

Eschalon Book 1 is a passable timesink, but do yourself a favor and fire up an actual classic or one of the better old-school-style titles this side of 1999. Even if it's cheap, there's still your time to consider--a playthrough takes about 20-40 hours depending on how OCD you get on doing quests and leveling up, and much of that will be spent slowly walking your single toon around obstacles since there's no click-move.

As for the plot, it's pretty straightforward w/o any real interesting twists, the writing is passable, but there's no real drama, tension, or even humor. There's *some* sure, but most of it is rather flat and just something to check the box.

Now, nobody ever came out and said this was a "love letter" to old-school CRPGs, but much of the marketing kept hyping up it's old-school-ness. To that I respond: 1) actual old CRPGs did it better, 2) some of those old CRPGs are still playable now, 3) newer CRPGs in old-school-style have also done it better.

If you read this and still played the game, no problem, even if you found you liked it enough to at least *want* to play it *a second time* (how many Yes-recommenders honestly think they'd *want* to play a second time? That's not even *actually* playing it twice, but just *thinking* about it?). I'm not saying I know all for everybody. If you played it and didn't like it, then at least know you've not gone crazy considering how many reviews recommend it. If you have yet to play it, seriously, track down and play the other names I've dropped first, then maybe you can at least be so busy putting in the hours into those that you won't even have to think about Eschalon.

This one really surprised me. I usually am not a big fan of turn based RPG's of this nature (I prefer JRPG) but this is the first system that I have liked in this style of game. I hated the Fallout style, where it's like a dungeon hack/slash until you get to enemies, then it's a tactical RPG. This is basically a dungeon hack and slash until you come across enemies, where it then becomes closer to a roguelike. Basically every action is a complete turn and your turns are essentially seemless.

Be warned! If you're a fan of casual RPGs, this one is not for you. It's an epic quest of XP grinding, min-maxing and filling your inventory with alchemical ingerients. Therefore I'm going to give this one a thumbs down.

There's some pen-and-paper retro charm to Eschalon that makes it worthwhile to people who really love turn based and number-driven adventures with no dedicated run buttons. You have to rest for eight hours to regain mana in order to kill a single bumble bee. If that's your thing, who am I to judge?